Collapse
by Spark-308
Summary: Yup, a Halo zombie story. No, it's not the Flood, it's worse.


"_She's gone. There's nothing we can do about it."_

"_But, what if-"_

"_Look at her! Even when she wakes up, she wont be able to make it another ten feet without-_

"_You hear that? We have to move. Now."_

"_No! We just can't leave her here to die! The UNSC doesn't leave anyone behind. She still has a chance. If we can just get her-"_

"_Leave her! Do you not hear that outside? We have to go, now! I'm not about to risk my ass trying to carry her back to rally. But if you want, you can try. By yourself. I'm leaving. I'm not about to miss my pick up because of a Spartan."_

"C'mon… Work!"

"Ugh, please work… please, please…"

I woke up to a flash of heat that ran over my body from head to toe that carried a light, hard shock with it. I sat up fast. The jolt rushed my breathing and made my heart race past stable. My visor flashed a bright white then dimmed to a cool gold tint. My vitals flashed a crimson red along with the words "Undetectable" next to my other team mates Derek and Flint. What ever the hell that was supposed to mean.

I could tell I was at a military base in a garage. But that's it. All the lights were off but two in the corner that flickered simultaneously. Only one vehicle remained. A warthog that, if you didn't spend as much time as I did in the army, you couldn't even tell it was a warthog anymore. The bumper was missing along with the bed and the turret. The hood looked like it got hit with a gravity hammer, the front seats were slashed to the point were they can fall apart if one sat in it, and, by the looks of it, nothing on it looked operational.

The dark, gray room was completely empty.

As I sat still, the last of the bio foam broke down. Pain lashed through my back and arms. My blood covered gauntlets closed to form tight fists as bio foam coursed through my veins. I reflexively cringed and gritted my teeth. Pain is good, it means I'm alive.

My visor flashed again; like a camera. Another shock entered my body and my armor shut down. Overloaded.

A high pitched whine squeezed through my helmet speakers. I quickly pulled my helmet off and tossed it aside. Heat rushed my face as the temperature rose by the second. I tasted blood and iron on my tongue as I swiped the few drops of sweat off my forehead and noticed the five foot Marine sitting next to me. He had a set of jumper cables in hand, and the rip cord from the back of my helmet still in his grip. I glared at him. "What are you doing with those?" I asked in a monotone. He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out as words. The last thing you should use to start a suit is jumper cables and a car battery but I forgot about it and looked around to try to figure out what happened. My armor was marked up, bad. Dented. I was hit by something big and heavy. Wraith maybe. The warthog was used before it got destroyed. The Marine might've brought me back here to shelter.

"What happened? What's going on?" He dropped the rip cord and the jumper cables and stayed at ground level as he started his mission over view. "Th- The Covenant were wiped out of the area as the ONI base was destroyed over the hill. The self destruct sequence completed successfully." "What time was pick up scheduled?" I asked. He paused and laughed under his breath.

"An hour ago."

That sentence dropped my stomach. "Why didn't you leave? I would've been fine." He came back with as strong of an answer as he had. "UNSC Marines don't leave good guys behind. And there's no way in hell I would pass up an opportunity to work with a Spartan. You saved my life, now it's time for me to return a favor."

I couldn't remember anything about the battle, but I remembered the mission. I grabbed my helmet and checked the mission logs. "So everyone's gone, then." "Correct." "Well," I looked over to him. "Private, what's your name?" He stood up and wrapped up the jumper cables. "Rowley. Private Joshua Rowley, ma'am." He saluted. I waved him off. "You can cut that, kid. There aren't any rankings any more. Not until we get off this rock."

As I stood, parts of my armor pinged as it tried to use the last of it's power to move. My legs burned with pain and it was hard to move my arms, but I still stood straight. "Now, are you sure we're the only one's left?" Joshua rubbed his greasy fingers onto the pants of his tattered camo-green uniform of the Marines. "I heard a bird crashed over by ONI, but, no word on if anyone survived. Chances of them being Spartans are high. If they are, they might've survived. More than half the ground force were those tall guys."

I thought for a second. The military base is always the first thing to go, there wont be anything here. Maybe someone, or something, did survive the ONI explosion. That's our best bet.

A noise, not of human or Covenant origin, came from behind us. It sounded like a growl, but I wasn't sure. "You heard that?" I asked Joshua. "Yeah, that noise has been going on ever since the birds took off. Didn't bother checking it out."

I didn't hesitate to say, "We're moving out. That still work?" I motioned towards the shredded warthog. "Only the radio." I looked back as another sound thundered behind me. "Looks like we're walking. Let's move."


End file.
